Simulating (and predicting!) kinematics with the Unity Engine

Check it out here: https://rockoontechnologies.github.io/physicsGame/Current/index.html

Note: the WebGl version can spaz out a little, to get a smoother result, try dragging around the objects — you can also see the prediction in action.

Controls:

• Right-click to pan camera, use plus and minus buttons to adjust the zoom
• Left-click to drag and move the objects, while clicked, you can click “a” to detach the prediction line
• Use the sliders to change the Simulation Settings
• Click Space to spawn new objects

Recently I have been working on a C++ physics library, with simple functions…

Designing a Chess AI with python

Simply put, I suck at chess. And so when a couple of friends easily defeated me, I briskly decided to make a Chess AI. An AI with basic capabilities, learning actions, and no dependencies.

This article does not include any code, but deeply describes the process and logic I followed in creating this beast.

The Basics

I began by first plotting out the underlying framework for the code. The primary goal was to create a variety of general functions (such as moving pieces) and a method of storing board data. …

Utilizing Unity to physically simulate thrust vector control in Rockets.

A basic introduction

Intro

TVC, or thrust vector control is a common method of controlling Rockets, or any propulsive device. TVC works by actuating the angle of said device’s output (lets say a rocket engine’s nozzle, for example). So by changing the angle of the thrust, and knowing things like the Rocket’s Center of Gravity, you can exert rotational torque and thus change the orientation of the Rocket.

Rockets utilize this strategy for a variety of reasons: it gives them pretty exact control of the heading/orientation of the vehicle, and can…

Discord is a widely used messaging platform, with a seemingly unlimited amount of community’s and topics. The allure of bots within in this network is to do what computers do best: repetitive and info heavy tasks. Today, we are going to embody this and create “RocketBot”. RocketBot’s objective is to fulfill his name and fetch Rocket-related information from a multitude of free APIs, then format them before posting in discord — all on command.

Let’s begin by outlining what tasks we want RocketBot to Accomplish:

• Get the next Rocket launch
• Get the next couple of Rocket launches
• Get the astronauts in space
• Get the ISS position (and map it)

What library's we are going to use:

• Discord.py | a easy to use wrapper for the discord API
• Requests | for getting data
• Plotly | advanced plotting (for some advanced features)
• Kaleido | for static image export for the above-mentioned graphs

To install, simply use pip:

pip install discord requests plotly kaleido

Now, lets begin by actually connecting discord to our bot. First, we need…